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MACHINERY 
REGULATING LABOR 


INTERNATIONAL LABOR OPINION 
AS TO PEACE TERMS 



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CONTENTS. 


Page. 

A. Introduction.. 5 

B. Unofficial International Action to Promote Protective Labor Legislation... 5 

I. Socialist Internationale. 5 

II. International trade-union movement. 6 

a. International Trades Secretariat. 6 

b. International Secretariat. 7 

III. Semi-official associations for economic and social reform. 8 

a. International Federation for the Observation of Sunday. 8 

b. Permanent International Committee on Social Insurance_ 8 

c. International Congress on Occupational Diseases. 9 

d. International Association on Unemployment. 9 

e. International Association for Labor Legislation. 9 

C. Official International Action Regulating Labor Cpnditions. 10 

I. History of official international agreements... 10 

II. Volume of agreements. 12. 

III. Subject matter dealt with. 12 

IV. International machinery suggested by agreements. 13 

D. International Labor and Socialist Opinion on the Peace Settlement. 14 

I. Labor and socialist conferences during the war. 14 

a. Inter-allied. . 14 

b. International. 16 

c. Neutral. 17 

II. Proposals for labor participation at the Peace Conference. 17 

a. A labor conference at the same time and place. 17 

b. Labor representation in the peace delegations of participating 

nations. 18 

III. Proposals as to the terms of peace. 18 

a. Political. 18 

b. Industrial. 19 


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OPINION OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AND SOCIALIST GROUPS ON 
TERMS OF THE PEACE SETTLEMENT. 


A. INTRODUCTION. 

This report summarizes the opinion of international labor and 
socialist groups on the terms of the peace settlement. It aims also 
to provide a background for the consideration of international 
machinery to regulate labor conditions. For the latter purpose a 
brief outline is given of the steps which have been taken by various 
labor and other groups to promote international protective labor 
legislation. The steps which governments have taken in this direc¬ 
tion are outlined in greater detail, since these provide the nearest 
approach to a precedent for international action. In conclusion, the 
report defines the attitude of labor and socialist groups since August, 
1914, with reference to the peace settlement in its political as well as 
its industrial aspects. 

B. UNOFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL ACTION TO PROMOTE PROTEC¬ 
TIVE LABOR LEGISLATION. 

Organized international opinion in favor of the regulation of 
labor conditions by international means, exclusive of official treaties 
and conventions, is chiefly represented by three groups: The Socialist 
Internationale, the international trade-union movement, and the 
various semi-official international associations for economic and social 
reform. These will be dealt with in the order of their origin. 

I. Socialist Internationale. 

The Socialist Internationale began to take form about 1864 when 
Karl Marx became the leader of an organization of radicals called 
the International Workingmen’s‘Association. The association held 
seven conferences before its dissolution in 1873, drawing an increas¬ 
ingly larger representation from all the European countries, but 
chiefly from England, Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland. 
From 1873 to 1889 the Internationale was inactive, but socialism 
itself continued to draw adherents, for it was during this period that 
political parties founded on socialist principles began to appear. 
In 1889 a new Internationale was formed, which held a conference in 
Paris at which 20 nationalities were represented. At the last regu¬ 
lar congress in 1910, 33 nations were present. 



G 


In all, nine international congresses have been held. The resolu¬ 
tions passed by these congresses have dealt with both industrial and 
political questions. For example, the Copenhagen Congress in 1910, 
reiterating the demands of the 1889 Congress, passed a .resolution 
containing the following minimum standard for international legis¬ 
lation : 

1. A maximum working day of eight hours. 

2. Prohibition of labor under 14 years. 

3. Prohibition of night work except when necessary. 

4. Uninterrupted rest of 36 hours a week as a minimum for 

all workers. 

5. Absolute right of combination. 

6. Inspection of working conditions, with cooperation of per¬ 

sons elected by the workers. 

The same congress resolved itself in favor of ultimate complete dis¬ 
armament and the abolition of secret diplomacy. 

In 1900 the International Socialist Bureau was founded, with head¬ 
quarters at Brussels. The Bureau is a permanent organization of 
delegates from every country, called international secretaries, who, 
during the years 1904 to 1914, met one or more times annually. Its 
executive committee is composed of Belgian socialists whose chair¬ 
man and secretary, respectively, since the year of its founding, have 
been Emile Yandervelde and Camille Huysmans. 

II. International Trade-Union Movement. 

International working-class conferences of various kinds were held 
at approximately the same time as the early Socialist Internationale. 
The earliest of these were general congresses of working-class repre¬ 
sentatives and their friends, such as the international conference of 
workers which met in Paris in 1886, and the International Labor 
Congress of 1897 at Zurich. Before these general congresses 
disappeared entirely, single crafts or groups of related crafts 
had become organized internationally and were holding conferences 
at which each international craft organization was represented. The 
body of representatives was called the International Trades Secre¬ 
tariat. Shortly after the development of the Trades Secretariat, 
another international body was formed called the International Sec¬ 
retariat, composed of representatives of the central trade federations 
of each nation. This body also held periodic conferences. 

a. International Trades Secretariat. 

Most of the international craft federations began to meet about 
1890, although there are indications of conferences of international 
tobacco workers’ unions as early as 1871 and 1872. In 1912, about 
30 trades were organized internationally. In that year, the Inter¬ 
national Metal Workers’ Federation and the corresponding federa- 


7 


tion of miners each had over a million members. Trades like the 
woodworkers, printers, etc., whose total membership in 1912 was 
smaller, were organized in from 15 to 20 countries. Five of the 
trades published monthly papers in several languages. 

The conferences of the four largest federations, namely, the tobacco 
workers, transport workers, miners and metal workers, have been 
concerned with such questions as mutual assistance in strikes, reci¬ 
procity agreements covering sick benefits, traveling and death bene- 
fits, the reduction of working hours, Sunday rest, the inauguration 
of a minimum wage, and the protection of women and children in 
industry. In addition, transport workers, including dockers, seamen 
and railway men, favored nationalization of railways and other 
means of production and the introduction of arbitration courts; 
miners advocated pensions for those injured in the mines and their 
widows and orphans, and nationalization of mines. The eight-hour 
day was advocated by all the trades. 

The work of these congresses has been confined almost entirely to> 
conducting propaganda in the various federated nations. For this: 
purpose the international secretary or a specially appointed com¬ 
mittee has year after year been instructed by the conference to collect 
information in the form of statistics and reports concerning hours,, 
wages, and conditions of work, to be made available to all the na¬ 
tional federations, in order to push the organization of workers in 
countries which were backward in this respect and to promote con¬ 
certed action among the unions of all countries. 

Weaker federations have concerned themselves primarily with the 
question of mutual assistance in crises produced by sickness and 
strikes. The problem of promoting international standards of labor 
appears to be a development of the stronger federations. 

In 1913 significant action was taken by the sixth international 
conference of tailors, which voted to send an organizer to Italy to 
hold tailors’ meetings in all frontier towns. 

The first conference of the secretaries of the various international 
craft federations was held in 1913. Steps were taken to encourage 
uniform statistics and reports among all the trades, and to link the 
international craft federations closer to the International Secretariat. 

b. International Secretariat. 

The Secretariat has been in existence for the last two decades. 
Affiliated with it are more than 20 national labor federations. Eight 
international conferences have been held, notably at Amsterdam,, 
Christiania, Paris, Budapest, and Zurich. 

These conferences have principally served as a medium for the 
interchange of international opinion on labor matters. Industrial 
rather than political questions have been discussed. Much of the 


8 


energy of the conferences has been spent in trying to bring about 
closer organization among the various affiliated national federations. 
These efforts, in 1911 and 1913, took the form of two proposals, one 
made by French delegates recommending international‘trade-union 
congresses and the other by American delegates recommending the 
establishment of an international federation of labor. These pro¬ 
posals were referred to the national centers for discussion in 1911. 
and again in 1913 after favorable comment from the conference. In 
1913 the name of the Secretariat, on a motion made by American 
delegates, was changed to the International Federation of Trades 
Unions. The change in no wise effected a change in organization, 
however. 

In January, 1913, appeared the first issue of the International hiews 
Letter, a bi-monthly bulletin containing a synopsis of international 
labor conditions. From the time of its establishment until July, 
1914, when the last regular issue appeared, more than 7,000,000 trade- 
union members had access to the bulletin. 

III. Semi-Official Associations for Economic and Social Reform. 

Beside the international organizations of distinctly working class 
character, there have been a number of conferences of associations of 
economists and professional men for purposes of general economic 
and social reform or the stud} 7 of special aspects of the labor problem, 
such as occupational diseases, social insurance, housing, child labor, 
unemployment and the like. These conferences have acquired a 
semi-official character because of the participation in them of states¬ 
men and government officials. • 

a. International Federation for the Observation of Sunday . 

One of the earliest organizations of this kind, called the Interna¬ 
tional Federation for the Observation of Sunday, was largely re¬ 
ligious in origin and impulse. It met in 1876, and again in 1878 
and 1885, and passed resolutions favoring Sunday rest for railroad 
and post-office employees, telephone and telegraph operators, sailors, 
and industrial workers. 

b. Permanent Intemiatioiud Committee on Social Insurance. 

The International Congress of the Permanent International Com¬ 
mittee on Social Insurance met for the first time in Paris in 1889. 
The Committee is composed of about a dozen national committees 
whose purpose is to encourage the adoption of insurance measures 
protecting the workman against accident, old age, sickness, and un¬ 
employment. Ten international conferences have been held at irregu¬ 
lar intervals varying from one to three years since the year of its 
founding. 


9 


c. International Congress on Occupational Diseases. 

The International Congress on Occupational Diseases, which met 
first at Milan in 1906, held an important congress at Brussels ip 1910, 
when representatives, including government officials, from 20 or 
more countries of Europe, Asia, North and South America were 
present, 

Special congresses, such as the Congress on Ankylostomasie, which 
was held at Berlin in 1907, and the International Congress of Hyr 
giene at Brussels, should also be noted. 

d. International Association on Unemployment. 

The first International Conference on Unemployment was called 
together by a private foundation in Milan, about 1905. Representa¬ 
tives from Germany, France, Belgium, and Hungary participated. 
In 1910 the International Association on Unemployment was formed 
to encourage national efforts to combat unemployment. The associa¬ 
tion is assisted in carrying out its investigations by the Permanent 
International Committee on Social Insurance and the International 
Association for Labor Legislation, and in some instances the national 
sections of these organizations form likewise the national sections 
of the Association on Unemployment, but the two are in other re¬ 
spects independent of each other. National sections of the Association 
have been constituted in 17 countries. In most of these, local or State 
governments grant subsidies to the Association and otherwise co¬ 
operate with and indorse its activities. Permanent headquarters of 
the Association are in Ghent, where a third international congress 
was held in 1913 . 

e. International Association for Labor Legislation. 

The most important of the nonworking class organizations for the 
improvement of labor conditions is the International Association for 
Labor Legislation, which is in some degree a result of the repeated 
demands of various labor bodies for the establishment of an inter¬ 
national bureau of information. The Association was formed in 
Paris in 1900 by a group of international statesmen, economists and 
professional men. In 1901 an International Labor Office was set up 
at Basle. Since then the membership of the Association has been 
extended to include more than 25 countries. Seven international 
conferences have been held. Ifi the last conference before the war, 
held in Zurich in 1912, 22 governments participated. Fourteen 
governments contribute to the support of the International Labor 
Office. In 1906 the Hungarian Government formally invited the 
conference to meet at Budapest, an invitation which was not ac¬ 
cepted, however, as political neutrality is one of the policies of the 
Association. 


100269—19-2 


__ It . 


10 


At the 1904 conference held at Basle, action was taken on two 
resolutions submitted by the International Office as a result of several 
years’ study of the effect of night work on the health of women 
workers and the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of 
matches. The conference voted to request the Swiss Federal Council 
to call an international official conference to consider these resolu¬ 
tions. This action influenced the international treaties signed at 
Berne in 1906, prohibiting night work for women and forbidding 
the use of white phosphorus in manufacture. 

The resolutions passed at the 1912 conference in Zurich indicate the 
emphasis put upon the necessity for international action in dealing 
with labor questions. They cover such subjects as the administra¬ 
tion of international labor treaties and labor laws, child labor, rela¬ 
tions between employers and workmen, the regulation of home work, 
hours of labor in continuous industries, the protection of workmen 
from accident and industrial disease, workmen’s holidays, and the 
length of the working day. 

In June, 1918, the Association submitted to the Swiss Federal 
Council a memorandum requesting the latter’s support for the incor¬ 
poration in the world’s peace treaty of a program of international 
protective labor legislation. The memorandum designates the Inter¬ 
national Association for Labor Legislation as the recognized official 
agency for the enforcement of international labor standards agreed 
upon, through the International Office at Basle. The Office is to be 
supported by the various signatory countries. Standard forms for 
reports bearing on the enforcement of labor laws are to be drawn up 
by the Office an daccepted by the powers in a special agreement. 

C. OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL ACTION REGULATING LABOR 
CONDITIONS. 

The following paragraphs constitute a critical summary of the 
various conferences and agreements entered into by governments for 
the protection of workers. The material contained in the summary 
is grouped under four heads: (1) an historical review of the agree¬ 
ments, (2) an indication of their volume, (3) a review of the subject 
matter dealt with, and (4) a description of the international ma¬ 
chinery either suggested or agreed upon. 

I. History of Official International Agreements. 

% 

The history of international action by governments in the inter¬ 
ests of better labor conditions goes back to a suggestion made by 
President Frey of the Swiss Federal Council, to that body, that the 
Swiss Government take steps to encourage an agreement among the 
industrial States of Europe regarding uniform labor standards. In 
1880, M. Frey proposed to the same body that an official conference 
be called to consider the question. 


11 


The next year the Swiss Government issued a circular to the Gov¬ 
ernments of the principal industrial States of Europe, inviting them 
to a conference on factory labor. The response was not encouraging, 
however, and the proposition was dropped as premature. 

In 1882, the first treaty granting an international exchange of 
savings-bank facilities was made between France and Belgium. The 
treaty itself is insignificant except as a model for important treaties 
which followed. 

In 1889, the Swiss Government again tried to organize an official 
international conference. This time the powers were more agreeable 
to the suggestion and a program of deliberations was actually made 
out, but at the moment of its acceptance, a request came from Ger¬ 
many that the Swiss conference be set aside for an official conference 
at Berlin. The request was granted and the conference accordingly 
met at Berlin in 1890. 

The Berlin conference was a technical conference purely. The 
delegates were bound only to recommend to their respective govern¬ 
ments the adoption of such measures as were approved by the con¬ 
ference. Fourteen European countries were present. 

The action taken at the 1890 meeting was never followed up. No 
diplomatic conference was ever called to negotiate on the basis of 
the program formulated. The conference paved the way for later 
parleys between governments, and may have given impetus to the 
formation of the International Association for Labor Legislation in 
1900, but left no other permanent trace. 

In 1904 a treaty was signed between France and Italy which was 
not only important in itself, but by serving as a model for other 
treaties gave encouragement to international official action. 

The treaty in its inception was a savings-bank agreement, pat¬ 
terned afte£ the Franco-Belgian treaty of 1882. As such it benefited 
Italy more than France, since there were at that time more Italian 
laborers in France than French laborers in Italy. The French 
Government, however, used the savings-bank clause as a means of 
obtaining concessions from Italy along the line of internal regulation 
of labor conditions, equalizing the labor standards of the two coun¬ 
tries, and thus removing a serious disadvantage to French industry 
and commerce. 

Two other treaties between France and Italy followed the treaty 
of 1904, extending further the principles laid down in the first 
agreement. A series of treaties dealing with accident and other- 
social insurance was also founded on it. 

In December, 1904, steps were taken toward another official con¬ 
ference. This time the request came from the International Asso¬ 
ciation for Labor Legislation to the Swiss Federal Council for a 


12 

conference to consider two resolutions prepared by the International 
Labor Office. 

Two conferences resulted. First, a technical conference of experts 
from 15 countries to determine the basis of the treaties to be con¬ 
sidered, was held at Berne in 1905. The formal official conference 
met at Berne in September, 1906, with 14 States represented. These 
two conferences resulted in the signing of the treaties prohibiting 
the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches and for¬ 
bidding night work for women. The first was signed by only 7. 
of the 14 convening States, while the last was signed by all. 

In January, 1913, the Swiss Government approached the coun¬ 
tries which had participated in the 1905 and 1906 conference, with a 
view to considering further international labor legislation. Two 
proposals prepared by the International Association for Labor Legis¬ 
lation, prohibiting night work for young persons and fixing a 
10-hour working day for young persons and women, were the basis of 
consideration. The previous plan of a technical conference followed 
by a conference of diplomatic representatives, was again used. 

Thirteen nations were present at the preliminary meeting at Berne. 
The attitude of the conference is shown by the fact that the consensus 
of opinion favored the adoption of international standards which 
were so low as not to necessitate serious modification in the existing 
legislation of any country. The final protocol on night work for 
young persons affected Italy only of all the important industrial 
nations, and in regard to the length of the working day for women 
and young persons caused reductions in hours in four countries only. 
The age limit proposed was below the age limit enforced in six States. 

The diplomatic conference scheduled for September, 1914, was 
never held because of the outbreak of war. No further group action 
to regulate labor conditions has since been taken. . 

II. Volume of Agreements. 

In all, between the years 1882 and 1914, there have been 30 bi-par¬ 
tite agreements affecting 12 European States, Japan, the United 
States, the Transvaal, and the Portuguese Province of Mozambique. 
Four official international conferences have been held—the first at 
Berlin in 1890, with 14 governments present; the second at Berne in 
1905, with 15 governments represented; the third, a diplomatic con¬ 
ference in 1906, with 13 official representatives attending; and the 
last at Berne in 1913, with 13 countries present. Two poly-partite 
treaties have been signed, both in 1906. 

III. Subject Matter Dealt With. 

An analysis of the content of the treaties divides them into those 
which extend to alien workmen the advantages and safeguards of the 


13 


industrial legislation of the country in which they live and work; 
and those which involve the simultaneous adoption of the same labor 
standards by two or more countries. 

To the first class belong 4 savings-bank agreements, similar to 
the Franco-Belgian treaty of 1882; 19 treaties which deal specifically 
with accident insurance, and 4 which deal with general social- 
insurance laws. 

To the second class belong the Franco-Italian treaties of 1904, 1906, 
and 1910, in which the extension of savings-bank facilities to alien 
workmen is made the basis for equalizing the labor regulations of both 
countries, particularly in regard to the protection of young persons 
and women in industrial establishments. The Berlin conference of 
1890 belongs to this class of agreement, although probably little of 
permanent value resulted from it. Such discussion as there was 
centered on the regulation of work in mines, Sunday rest, protective 
measures for children, young persons, and women, and the ma¬ 
chinery of enforcement for the measures which were finally adopted. 
The Berne treaties of 1906, as well as the Berne Conference of 1913 
which was largely inspired by the success of these treaties, were like¬ 
wise agreements among several nations to adopt the same labor regula¬ 
tions. This group of international agreements is, therefore, the more 
significant of the two classes of agreements, inasmuch as it involves 
a change of existing labor standards in accordance with standards 
scientifically determined, whereas the former involve merely the ex¬ 
tension of existing standards to a larger group. 

There are, in addition, three or four miscellaneous treaties whose 
classification as labor treaties is derived merely from the fact that 
they concern the emigration of workingmen from one country to 
another. 

IV. International Machinery Suggested by Agreements. 

Discussion of proposals for enforcing these international agree¬ 
ments has particular significance for this report. 

In the agreements touching the protection of alien workmen by the 
social insurance laws of the country in which they work, enforce¬ 
ment is quite generally left to the local authorities with the coopera¬ 
tion of the consular authorities of the alien country. In a treaty 
between Italy and Hungary (1909), there is an added provision to 
the effect that an international court of arbitration shall be created 
for the settlement of disputes arising under the treaty. 

Much discussion took place at the 1890 conference over a proposal 
made by Switzerland that a permanent international labor bureau be 
formed to act as a clearing house of information, as well as to plan 
periodic international conferences. The proposal was rejected in 
favor of a suggestion by Germany that enforcement be left to the 


14 


individual States and be reinforced by an interchange of data among 
them. The German motion also contained a general recommendation 
for a similar conference at some future time. 

At the technical conference which preceded the signing of the 
treaties of Berne in 1906, Switzerland proposed an organ to enforce 
the phosphorus agreement. The idea again met with no favor and 
was dropped. 

At the ratifying conference in 1906 proposals were presented by 
Great Britain and by France and Switzerland jointly for the estab¬ 
lishment of an international commission to function for the exchange 
of views preliminary to the holding of future international confer¬ 
ences. The British proposal empowered the commission also to ob¬ 
serve and report on the enforcement of the treaties which were 
signed at that time; whereas the French-Swiss plan would have made 
the commission consultative merely, on the initiative of the States 
themselves. 

Neither proposal was embodied in the final treaties, although 10 of 
the 14 signatories to the night-work treaty passed a resolution favor¬ 
ing the French-Swiss proposal and agreeing to its incorporation in 
the final agreement on condition that the other four countries "were 
persuaded also to adhere. 

In default of an international commission, the Swiss Federal Coun¬ 
cil acted as an intermediary for the settlement of several questions 
of minor importance which developed in connection with the 1906 
treaties. 

D. INTERNATIONAL LABOR AND SOCIALIST OPINION ON THE 
PEACE SETTLEMENT. 

Since the first days of the war labor has been one of the chief 
factors in the formulation of opinion regarding the aims of the war 
and the terms of the final settlement. In so far as international 
labor opinion has been able to express itself through organization, 
it has been concerned with two propositions, namely, the steps neces¬ 
sary to insure consideration of the special claims of labor in the 
peace treaty, and the formulation of the specific purposes for which 
consideration is desired. These aims have been resolved by means 
of a series of international conferences which will be treated apart 
from the subject matter with which they deal. 

I. Labor and Socialist Conferences During the War. 

a. Inter-allied. 

The first of these was held in London February 14, 1915. Labor 
and socialist representatives from England, France, Belgium, and 
Russia were present. Resolutions were passed dealing with the ter¬ 
ritorial provisions of the peace treaty, favoring the establishment 


of a supernational authority to keep peace among nations, and con¬ 
demning secret diplomacy. 

Representatives of trade unions from England, France, Belgium, 
and Italy met in Paris in May, 1916 to make plans for a later meeting, 
at which it was proposed to discuss an international labor conference 
to be held at the same time and place as the Peace Conference, and the 
formulation of labor clauses to be included in the peace treaty. 

Two months later, the International Congress of Trades Unions 
met at Leeds. The proposal for an international labor conference 
at the same time and place as the Peace Conference was rejected in 
favor of a conference before peace negotiations were begun, for the 
purpose of discussing syndicalistic and social matters exclusively. 
The congress also adopted the report drawn up by M. Jouhaux, of 
the French Confederation Generale du Travail, containing the special 
labor standards which it was desired to make part of the peace treaty. 

An inter-allied socialist congress was to have been held in Paris 
the early part of 1917, but did not take place because of the refusal 
of the British Labor Party to send delegates. The refusal was based 
on objection to the narrowness of the program, which contained only 
two questions, namely, condemnation of a war of aggression and de¬ 
nunciation of economic war after the war. 

A later Allied Conference was called by the British section of the 
Socialist Internationale in August, 1917, for the purpose of discuss¬ 
ing the Inter-allied War Aims drawn up by the special committee of 
the British Labor Party and Trades Union Congress. Final agree¬ 
ment on the Aims was not reached, however. The conference voted 
to attend the proposed meeting at Stockholm, at which socialists 
from all the warring countries were expected to be present. 

The Trades Union Congress of the allied nations met in London 
in September of the same year to discuss moving the headquarters 
of the International Federation of Trades Unions from Berlin to a 
neutral country. As this could not be done without the cooperation 
of the German members of the Federation, it was decided to call an 
international conference at Berne, and to have French and Serbian 
delegates to the conference report its conclusions to British, Ameri¬ 
can, and Canadian federations, inasmuch as the latter refused to meet 
with delegates from the enemy countries. 

An important Inter-allied Labor and Socialist Conference was 
held in London February, 1918, followed by a later one in September. 
Delegates from Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Italy were pres¬ 
ent at the first meeting. The American Federation of Labor received 
notice of the meeting too late to attend. Comprehensive proposals 
relating to political and industrial aspects of the peace treaty were 
drawn up and accepted. 


16 . 


At the September meeting the United States, Canada, Greece, Ser¬ 
bia, and Roumania were also represented. Consideration was given 
to replies received from enemy socialists in answer to the proposals 
made at the February conference. Satisfaction was .expressed with 
the response from Bulgarian and Hungarian socialists and from the 
German Social Democratic Party of Austria, but the reply of the 
German majority socialists was voted a bar to the- holding of an 
international meeting. It was voted by the conference to continue to 
state inter-allied aims by means of national and inter-allied con¬ 
gresses. 

b. International. 

These sum themselves up in a number of frustrated attempts to 
hold meetings of delegates from allied and enemy nations, some of 
which did not evolve beyond mere proposals, and include a meeting 
between delegates from the Central Powers and neutral nations 
which had considerable significance. 

An International Socialist Congress was proposed in 1914, but 
French socialists refused to attend as long as the enemy was on 
French soil, and the congress was not held. This attitude was con¬ 
firmed in 1916, when the Confederation Generale du Travail, by a 
small majority, voted against the resumption of friendly relations 
with labor delegates from enemy countries. 

In 1917 the proposal to convene an international socialist congress 
at Stockholm agitated labor and socialist groups in every country. 
The conference was called by the International Socialist Bureau, 
with the cooperation of representatives of the Russian Council of 
Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Deputies and the Dutch-Scandinavian 
Socialist Committee. The meeting was favored by the British Labor 
Party and by the Inter-Allied Socialist Conference of August, 1917, 
but was never held because of the failure of the delegates from 
allied nations to receive passports. Delegations from other countries 
did not arrive at Stockholm simultaneously. 

The same year the international conference which was to consider 
moving the headquarters of the International Federation of Trades 
Unions from Berlin to a neutral country met at Berne (October, 
1917). Representatives from Germany, Austria, Hungary, Den¬ 
mark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, and 
Bohemia were present. Delegates from Great Britain, the United 
States, and Belgium declined to attend, and French and Italian dele¬ 
gates were denied passports. The conference adopted resolutions in 
favor of general protective legislation providing certain minimum 
industrial standards. 

In 1917 also, the Executive of the British Labor Party, in con¬ 
junction with the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union 
Congress, instituted measures to secure international agreement 


17 


among labor and socialist groups. This action took the form of 
drawing up a Memorandum of Inter-allied War Aims, which w T as 
made the basis of international as well as inter-allied discussion. 

The Inter-allied Labor and Socialist Conference which met in 
February, 1918, and the British Trades Union Congress the follow¬ 
ing September, both passed resolutions favoring an international 
labor and socialist conference in principle. More recently still, 
Scandinavian trade-union federations in joint conference decided to 
call an international trade meeting as soon as peace was declared, 
in order to reconstitute the international labor movement and con¬ 
sider international economic stabilization, 
jc. Neutral. 

Two conferences of socialists from neutral nations have been held 
in addition to the Scandinavian meeting. The first of these was 
called by the Danish section of the International Socialist Bureau 
and met in Copenhagen, January, 1915. In June, 1916, another meet¬ 
ing of neutrals was called by the Bureau to meet at The Hague. 

II. Proposals for Labor Participation at the Peace Conference. 

Discussion of the way in which voice should be given to organized 
labor opinion regarding the final treaty of peace has centered around 
two proposals: (1) for a labor and socialist conference at the same 
time and place as the Peace Conference; (2) for labor representation 
in the peace delegations of each of the countries participating in the 
settlement. 

The first proposal was made originally by the American Federa¬ 
tion of Labor at its annual convention in 1914, and specified that 
the conference should be international. The Canadian Trades 
Union Congress and the French Confederation Generale du Travail 
both indorsed the American proposal after a considerable lapse of 
time, but other allied labor groups preferred an inter-allied instead 
of an international meeting. The British Trades Union Congress 
in 1916 voted 2 to 1 against the American motion, but in 1917 the 
Congress not only voted that an international conference was a 
necessary preliminary to peace, but in October, 1918, joined with 
the British Labor Party in making a formal request of the British 
Government for permission to attend such a conference. 

The principle of an inter-allied conference was indorsed by both in¬ 
ter-allied conferences held in London in 1918. The February confer¬ 
ence appointed a commission to organize delegates to the conference. 

Recent reports indicate that a labor and socialist conference will be 
held at Berne during the progress of the Peace Conference with 
socialist representatives from Austria and Germany present. Plans 
are being made to hold an International Trades Union Congress 


18 


simultaneously with the Peace Conference also, but the two labor 
congresses will not meet together. 

The second proposal, namely for labor representation in the vari¬ 
ous peace delegations, was first urged by the American Federation 
of Labor at its 1916 convention. The Berne conference of October, 
1917, framed a resolution asking for the participation of trade union 
representatives in the consideration of social economic questions at 
the Peace Conference. The Confederation Generale du Travail and 
the Inter-Allied Labor and Socialist Conference of February, 1918, 
have each voted for labor representation at the peace table. 

On October 9 last the British Labor Party and the Trades Union 
Congress requested the British Government to include an official 
representative of labor in the peace delegation. A similar request 
has been made to the French Government. M. Emile Yandervelde, 
Minister of Justice and President of the International Socialist 
Bureau, is said to be one of the Belgian delegates to the Peace Con¬ 
ference. 

III. Proposals as to the Terms of Peace. 

a. Political. 

Opinion regarding political aspects of the peace settlement con¬ 
cern general peace terms, the League of Nations, and specific ques¬ 
tions such as the abolition of secret diplomacy, limitation of arma¬ 
ments, right of self-determination, economic war after the war and 
the like. 

The most conspicuous definition of allied war aims by labor con¬ 
sists of the Memorandum on War Aims framed by the British Labor 
Party and the Trades Union Congress jointly. The War Aims were 
originally drawn up by a subcommittee of the National Executive of 
the Labor Party, consisting of Arthur Henderson, Ramsay Mac¬ 
Donald, F. W. Jowett, G. H. Roberts, George J. Wardle, and Sidney 
Webb. They were presented to the Inter-Allied Labor and Socialist 
Conference in London August, 1917, but agreement on the terms 
was not reached and a standing committee was appointed to give 
further consideration to the memorandum. The following month the 
Trades LTnion Congress and the Labor Party joined forces in the task 
of bringing about a general agreement of Avar aims among the 
working classes of the allied nations. The Aims were revised, and 
after approval by the national committees of the two bodies, were 
presented to Premier Lloyd George as the opinion of the organized 
workers of Great Britain. 

The memorandum was accepted by the Labor Party in conference 
on January 23-25, 1918, and by labor representatives of the allied 
nations in conference on February 20-23, 1918. 

President Wilson’s Fourteen Points have received significant in¬ 
dorsement from such representative labor groups as the Inter-Allied 


,19 


Conference of September, 1918, the Confederation Generate, du Trav¬ 
ail, and the French Socialist Conference of October, 1918. In No¬ 
vember the convention of the Pan-American Federation of Labor at 
Laredo, Tex., passed a resolution adopting the aims formulated by 
the American Federation of Labor in 1,917 which were expressly 
based on the President’s peace principles. 

Besides the general indorsement by labor of terms of peace either 
based on the Fourteen Points, or similar to them in spirit and inten¬ 
tion, support of the plan for a League of Nations to be incorporated 
in the settlement has been unanimous. 

In 1915, before the League of Nations plan had been clearly de¬ 
fined, labor groups began to formulate proposals which embodied the 
principle of an international authority to arbitrate in disputes be¬ 
tween nations. The Inter-Allied Conference of February, 1915, called 
the workers of every country to unite for the purpose of helping to 
establish such a body. The Comite Confederal the same year de¬ 
clared in favor of the principle of compulsory arbitration in all con¬ 
flicts between nations. In 1915 also the Fabian Society drew up a 
scheme for a League of Nations, including an international high 
court and an international legislative organization. The international 
Congress of Trade-Unions in July, 1916, on accepting the report of 
the French delegates containing international labor standards to be 
considered in the terms of peace, indorsed the idea of an international 
commission to control the enforcement of these standards. The 
British Labor Party, the Trades-Union Congress, the Confederation 
Generale du Travail and the Inter-Allied Socialist Conference of 
August, 1917, all went on record in 1917 as favoring a League of 
Nations. In addition the German Socialist majority and minority 
parties have expressed support of the plan. 

Certain specific points in the peace program have received special 
indorsement. The right of small nations to self-determination, limi¬ 
tation of armaments, and abolition of secret diplomacy have been 
adopted as political ideals at least five distinct times by British, 
French, and American labor groups, as well as by German and Aus¬ 
trian socialists. The same allied groups have expressed condemna¬ 
tion of the program adopted by the Paris Economic Conference of 
June, 1916, involving an economic war after the war. 

b. Industrial. 

Labor standards put forward by international labor groups for 
incorporation in the peace treaty are fairly uniform. The protection 
of women and children, social insurance provisions, prohibition of 
night work, the 8-hour day, safe and sanitary working conditions 
have been indorsed by all the important inter-allied conferences and 
by the international conference at Berne in 1917 in which neutral 


20 


nations, as well as Germany, Austria, and countries allied with them, 
participated. 

Certain of these conferences have stressed additional points. The 
Inter-Allied Congress of Leeds, 1916, favored genera] clauses in the 
Peace Treaty, guaranteeing the right to organize and the right of 
free movement, and providing measures to protect workmen against 
unemployment. The Memorandum on War Aims includes a clause 
urging the prevention of “ sweating ” and unhealthy trades. The 
International Conference at Berne emphasized the need for regulat¬ 
ing home work. The British General Federation of Trades Unions, 
in a letter to the Prime Minister September 6, 1918, urged inter¬ 
national legislation dealing among other things with the importance 
of rest days. The American Federation of Labor draws attention 
to the necessity of abolishing child labor and establishing a basic 
8-hour workday. These aims have been indorsed by the Pan-Ameri¬ 
can Federation also. 

Finally, the Labor Committee of the French Chamber of Deputies 
has adopted a report on labor clauses to be included in the Peace 
Treaty, which includes the measures considered by the official inter¬ 
national conference at Berne in 1913, prohibiting night work for 
young persons and fixing a 10-hour workday for women and chil¬ 
dren in industry. 


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